In a networked computing environment, session services are often employed to apply specific processing to an exchange of data between processes. Such an exchange, or session, usually includes a sequence of packets, also called a packet flow, which share a common context, and which can collectively benefit from the application of one or more session services. Packet flows are typically employed between processes communicating via the network, often in a client/server arrangement. A session service may include, for example, different types of protocol conversion or protocol optimizations, such as proxy services and header compression, and may be transparent to an end user.
Often, a single physical connection, such as a dialup modem line, carries many packets corresponding to a plurality of packet flows. However, a session service is typically applied to the physical connection as a whole. Accordingly, a particular session service is applied to all packets transmitted via the physical connection. Application of the session service does not distinguish among different packet flows carried over the connection. Individual flows, therefore, and the associated processes, may incur the processing overhead associated with a particular session service regardless of whether the session service is needed or desired for the packet flow in question.
In a wireless communication network, a wireless link is typically shared among multiple users through wireless channels, which are allocated and switched among the users on a demand basis by a scheduler. Packets sent over the wireless link need to be signaled and tagged accordingly to initiate and employ the session service for the intended packets which comprise the packet flow. Accordingly, it would be beneficial to provide a mechanism for signaling initiation of a particular session service by the sender and receiver over the wireless link, and for tagging affected packets to indicate which session service to apply to each packet.